Gershenson & Desmond: Eviction Crisis in Rural America

In Eviction and the Rental Housing Crisis in Rural America, Carl Gershenson and Matthew Desmond (both Sociology, Princeton University) detail eviction realities in rural America using data compiled in a national database. The authors note the lack of comprehensive research on the eviction crisis facing rural Americans because most prior research has instead focused on the urban eviction crisis.  By offering the first comprehensive analysis of the approximately 220,000 evictions filed in rural communities every year, Gershenson and Desmond illuminate both particular experiences of racial disparities in rural evictions and the impact of a pervasive lack of affordable quality housing in many rural communities.

In their research, Gershenson and Desmond consider race, family structure, the housing market, and the local economy. They use the Princeton University’s Eviction Lab database, which compiles county-level data from 41 states, to isolate the data from non-metro areas. Additionally, the authors relied on a geocoding program that pulls from Census data to consider the race and ethnicity of renters who have experienced eviction in their data set.

Ultimately, the authors show that rural renters typically experience lower levels of eviction filings than their urban counterparts overall, but rural renters are also less protected by anti-eviction initiatives that are being implemented in urban centers.

Evictions are driven by the high rent burden on rural renters with a low stock of affordable housing.

Looking at who experiences rural eviction, the authors show that rural Black renters are four times more likely to experience eviction than white renters.

In contrast, Hispanic rural renters have somewhat lower eviction rates, but the authors caution this may be due in part to the prevalence of housing in “colonias,” or communities that are low-cost but also low-quality and often overcrowded.

Finally, despite these housing problems facing rural communities, the authors note that the relative lack of large institutional landlords in some rural places compared to urban counterparts might contribute beneficially to lower rural eviction rates, with local rural landlords potentially more integrated into their communities.

Since housing is one of the best predictors of rural community vitality, Gershenson and Desmond urge researchers to conduct further research into the housing problems facing rural Americans, including the low quality of housing and lack of access to rent assistance programs. Further, they recommend increased government funding programs to aid in providing affordable housing to renters, as well as support for building low-cost housing options.